Strato-Master

I was actually planing on that I found some schematics at runoffgroove.com that should work. just need to order the parts.

I will try and get some vids of it up after I do some more tweaking to it. It really is still a prototype, The sound is nothing to die for yet but I plan on changing that after a little bit more research. Any comments on improvements to the looks or layout out the connections and controls would be welcome.

So I ordered a cheap (10 USD) amp from ebay it arrived with the cabinet busted so I decided to chuck the guts from it into my old NES and while I was at it I wired in the PCB from my Boss DS-1 Stomp box to be able to get some distortion out of the amp.

I found this guitar collecting dust in a back room it had rusty strings no saddle and no tuning machines so I bought Gohto tuners a tusq saddle and bridge pins. Her name is Delilah!

Fender more than likley didn't use a lacquer on the guitar when it was new. Thats what it has a harder finish originaly probably Poly urethane. Lacquer it self isn't a very hard finish (I.e. dents easy) and will continue to move with the guitar body over the years allowing it to crack. It's also not recomended to mix differant types of finish. Which it sounds like you have done. Did you sand all the old finish off and started over or just spray a clear over the old finish to make it shiny again?

Is he going into the Air force you boot time and calling it tech school would seem to say so but you said Army. If he's going into the Army he will go to his basic training then most likely he will have some leave time where he gets to come home. If he's USAF then yes 8 weeks of boot and right to tech school depending on his job it is anywhere from 4 weeks to three years of tech school if he's not a linguist he wont have the three year tech. I personally had 6 weeks of Boot then 4 months of tech then I got to go home on leave. Also very rarely will they send some one in any branch directly to their duty station. There would have to be an extreme need for him to have too. As most people even after training don't really know their job until they have had some OJT. You can go strait there if you so choose but you can take leave and most people will. If you have anymore questions feel free to PM me! EDIT : P.s. You don't deploy to a regular duty station just special assignments where there is a chance of combat. You have a P.C.S. (Permanent Change of Station) At least that's true in most situations but not all.

Thank you you for thanking me and good luck to your brother. I bet he would like what ever you do for him even if its just spending time with him. If my memory serves me correctly you only have 2 or 3 months to build it if you do.

Well progress is slow I got a couple side jobs repairing co workers guitars. But I got the back of the guitar done so hopefully tomorrow I can start spraying the burst. I also ordered all the hardware except the tuning machines.

Here's my old beast. Its a Power Kraft model number TEB 84-8565A by Montgomery Ward. My Grandpa picked it up for five bucks at a rummage sale. It may not be the fanciest but I tell ya when I lock it at one height it stays put. EDIT : Wrong image

Hey yall I got another update Here's the front with the clear on it. I havn't got the back done yet but when I do I'm putting a camo tan burst on it front and back.

Update time Sgt scrappy is almost in uniform I have the fabric glued onto the body and the initial trimming is done. Here is the front Here is the back The neck has also been successfully repaired and everything seems to be in good working order now. As you can see my attempt to have the SSgt rank inlayed didn't work. Oh well mabey another time another project. I have a pair of ABUs that are almost wore out. So there could be a younger sister to this one in the works down the road I also soldered up the electronics to make sure the work For now it will just have the HB. The piezo pickup with follow at a later date when I have more money.

Yes I was just waiting to get a new bit for my dremel before I cut the saddle slot.

It is a 25 in scale length. The body used was from a 3/4 sized guitar. I should have more pictures to put up later. I'm hoping that I will be starting to do the finish work on the body or the neck today.

What you see is what you get. That is the bridge I am going to use I drilled out the holes under it to allow the ball end and bridge pins to fit

Ok new Update the body work is almost finished I have the new bridge test fitted and I solved my problem for grounding the strings I routed out a channel right on the edge of the peg holes and inserted a solid piece of wire for each string to contact. here's a pic of the underside of the bridge it's not great but it gives the idea and here is the general layout of the body

Nope ^ http://projectguitar.com/tut/mat.htm

I had measured to account for the truss rod, so I could use the router cause I wanted as strait as possible hole because I don't have a drill press. Things probably would have gone better if I had used a jig but I just set the depth on the router and free handed it so I think rushing was the mistake in this case. Now I'm paying for it however I agree a drill would have been better.

Thanks ae3 After much thought I have decided the final name of the guitar will be Sgt Scrappy. The name took hold after I cut of the top curves of the Epiphone Headstock and it looked like a flat top hair cut. With the damage I did to the heel and the pain it has been trying to fill the void left in the wood. I'm to route off the heel to just above the truss rod and glue on a new chunk of wood. Mind you this neck has had the holes in it plug so many time that I wouldn't trust it to handle the extra pressure from 12 strings now with out some super strong filler material

Well New update My router decided that its wanted to be jumpy today very jumpy. I now have numerous divots and holes to fill in the body. Also I decided to go with a fabric finish using some old BDUs (woodland camo uniform ) and a USAF staff Sgt. stripe inlay after the bridge. But that aint the worst thing it did to me today While I was attempting to use the router to get nice clean holes in the heel of the neck to plug where the original screws went it caught on something not the truss rod thank goodness and ripped the side of the heel off so had to glue it back into place. That however it did solve one issue for me I wasn't sure if I wanted to refinish the neck or not. Now I don't have a choice! Here's the front an back sanded

I got hooked on his spirit of the wild album love that one!

Some random chunk of hard wood I was able to get my hands on. I got pics in these two pics the block is just sitting in the hole but I do have it glued in.

She acctully don't mind me working on guitars too much. So that's a plus for me. Europe is nice it's a lil weird cause I live off base so it's easier to go the the local stores sometimes and I don't speak a lick of German gives me a excuse to look around the local home improvement store that much more thou. I do have one problem everything here is metric including lumber so I have had to adjust to that when I build things for the house like our new bed frame. I'm Not entirely sure what the discoloration is or even what type of wood it is I think the wood was actually spalted or something. who knows though. All I can tell you is it has fairly strait grain and its heavy for a small body before i routed it the body alone weighed almost the same as my old squire strat with a plywood body.

One word comes to mind. Damn!

Yeah I did jump into it! good idea with the strait edge I'll have to go back clean them up. thanks again for the idea! I just gpt my tools back yesterday after moving to Germany so I was itchin to get a project started.

Ok the body is routed out Just some sanding to clean up the edge and it will be ready for the new wood block to be fitted and glued in that's tomorrows project that is if my wife lets me. Here is the front and here is the rear I left a small amount on the neck end of the body just to give me something extra to glue onto. If you look you can see some paint still in place that managed to hang on while I was routing. I thought it was kinda funny.